These are just some comments about staking Qtum. I'm new at this, and I'm certainly am not a subject-matter expert. This is a long and technical post, but hopefully it is useful if you are considering staking your Qtum.

I ended up buying the AcePC T11 mini computer to use for staking Qtum, and also for those tasks that I'm unable to do with my Google ChromeBox.

The T11 has a small footprint, and is silent because there is no fan. It has 4 USB ports (1 is a 3.0), HMDI, VGA, TF Card reader, Ethernet port, 5.0 & 2.4 Mhz wireless, and A/V outputs. It has an Intel Atom quad-core processor running at 1,44 Ghz, and has Windows 10 Pro installed. It also comes with an HDMI cable and a VESA bracket for mounting on the back of a monitor.

The T11 also has a slot for a 2.5" HDD/SSD, up to 2 Tb. The TF card reader capacity is 128 Mb.

It is a very capable computer for internet and business use (I installed Apache Open Office). I probably would not recommend it for Photoshop, Mathematica, CAD, or serious gaming. I also bought a 256 GB SSD when I ordered the T11.

If Tim and the rest of the people at Apple had been updating the Mac Mini, I would have bought one of those. Apple states that they support the Mac Mini, but their actions suggest otherwise.

I downloaded the Qtum Wallet 0.14.3, and transferred 1900 Qtum into it. The tokens need to mature (about 21 hours) before becoming eligible for staking. The wallet does provide some information, and it stated I should receive a block within 9 days.

My first block was received in less than 24 hrs. The reward was 4 Qtum, right now worth $48. The wallet now claims that I should receive a block every 8 days. This will be discussed later in this post.

After the block is processed, the staking system will not allow you to stake again until 500 confirmations have occurred. I am currently using 1 receiving address, but I am going to increase the number of receiving addresses after the next block is received and processed. I'm going to create a total of 6 receiving addresses, with slightly more than 300 Qtum in each address.

The current wallet is 0.14.6. - 0.14.3 had problems with virus detectors, both for SilverDoge and myself. Kaspersky deleted our wallets. Avast flagged my wallet as a threat, but provided options as to how to handle the situation, and it allowed my wallet to continue to stake.

I have had no false alarms using Avast on 0.14.5 and 0.14.6. I'm not going to try it with Kaspersky. Trump was right in banning those commies from bidding on US government contracts.

Always make a backup, and update it after each stake that you receive.

I did encounter a problem with the T11, Windows, and Qtum. The computer would turn itself off after an unspecified period of time OR it would continue to run, but I was unable to get the monitor to detect the video signal after I turned the monitor back on.

The power settings in Windows were set to NEVER turn off the computer or display. I checked the BIOS on the T11 to see if there was any power settings in the BIOS, but there were none.

My workaround to allow me to turn off the monitor was pretty simple. I launched the Chrome Browser, and went to the US Naval Observatory time clock. The page is a java-script that updates the time by each second. Then I launched Qtum and begin staking.

The final questions I had concerned CPU/Memory utilization, the energy costs of staking, the amount of bandwidth used to stake., and an estimate of the rewards from staking QTUM.

I launched Qtum and Chrome, and after Qtum started staking, I launched Task Master for about an hour. The highest number for Qtum CPU utilization was 2.5%, memory usage was between 84-92Kb, and network usage was sporadic, but averaged 0.1 Mb. It is obvious that a Windows or Mac computer is overkill for staking. The 256 GB SSD I purchased is totally unnecessary, just use a TF Card and if you want more storage, use a couple of USB sticks.

The Raspberry Pi would have been my 1st choice for a staking machine, but I wanted a cheap Windows computer and I wanted to get started staking right away. I'm sure I would have needed some help getting Linux running.

Another reason why I wanted a Pi was because I wouldn't use it to surf the web, adding a big layer of protection against key-loggers. I also like the fact that I could probably get away with a small solar panel on my carport and a motorcycle battery for storage, totally eliminating the electrical costs.

By now, you might be wondering about the costs of staking. I don't have a good answer because I don't have a watt-meter or a clamp-on amp-meter, so therefor I'll have to use the stated values on the power supply. The problem with this is that the computer operates on far fewer watts then the formula will calculate.

Using Watts Law, the formula to calculate watts is: P = V x I (P=Watts, V=Voltage, I=Current). There are a couple of other ways to calculate watts using the resistance of the load. This could possibly be measured by measuring the resistance from the DC Power Input pin to the Ground pin.

In the case of the T11, the power supply is 115 Volts and 4 Amps. Those values calculate to 460 watts, however my T11 is drawing far less than 460 watts. There are a couple of reasons for this.

Power Supplies are designed to provide more current that is actually needed by the load. This is called "headspace", it allows that power supply and the computer to run cooler, because of less electrical load on the power supply.

In the case of my computer, it has 4 USB ports and a HDD/SSD drive port. All of these ports supply voltage, and therefore increase the amount of current draw, therefore raising the number of watts of power consumed.

I am using a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard, so there is a keyboard transceiver in 1 of the USB ports. I consider that as a minimal additional load. Any device plugged into a USB port is going to increase the current draw, and therefore raise the amount of watts consumed. The 128 Mb TF card draws some current, but I don't have any information on that.

If one of the USB devices was an unpowered USB hub, you can potentially add another 5 or 6 USB devices to the current load. Think about somebody who adds an external CD Reader/Writer, a tablet, and/or a phone. That's a lot of additional current being consumed. The wattage (power consumption) will increase.

The T11 also has a 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD drive port. The 250 Gb Samsung SSD that I am returning draws 1.4 amps. I also have a Hitachi 160 Mb HDD that draws 770 ma (0.7 amps). Those are pretty heavy loads for a 4 amp supply, which leads me to believe that my T11 is drawing less than 2 amps.

Now, at 4 amps current, the T11 is "theoretically" consuming 460 watts. I believe my computer is consuming 1/2 of that value, but for the basis of an electrical cost estimate, I'll use 460 watts.

The next step in calculating the cost requires the conversion of watts consumed into kilowatt hours. My power company charges $0.13 per kilowatt hour.

The energy E in kilowatt-hours (kWh) is equal to the power P in watts (W), times the time period T in hours (hr) divided by 1000.

The formula is: E(kWh) = P (W) X T (hours)/1000

Therefore, 460 watts consumed over a 24 hour period equals 11.04 kWh. Using a power cost of $0.13, the electrical operating cost is $1.43 per day, or roughly $43.05 per month. (30 days)

Assuming that Qtum is correctly estimating a reward of 4 Qtums every 8 days, and using $12 as the current price of Qtum, I should receive $144 per month in Qtum. Subtracting the cost of electricity ($43.05), the "profit " is $100.95.

As I explained above, I don't believe my rig is consuming 460 watts. I believe it is probably closer to 230 watts, which would be 5.52 kWh, a daily cost of $0.72, a monthly cost of $21.60, and a monthly "profit" of $122.40.

I haven't yet priced a solar rig for staking Qtum. I'm thinking $100-$150 for a solar panel, a 12 volt motorcycle battery, a step-down transformer and maybe a 5 volt voltage regulator. The payback period should be approximately 1-2 months.

All things being equal, after the solar rig expense has been repaid, I would receive $144 per month. To put this into perspective, that $144 would pay for (1) my electric bill, and (2) my gas bill, and (3) a tank of gas for my truck, and (4) a steak dinner at the club on Saturday night.

I initially thought that I would stake Qtum and run Kodi (home theatre software) on the T11, but on further thought, that isn't very secure. Kodi is continually "scraping" the internet for media content, and many of the sources are unknown, and some are violating copyright laws. I'm not as worried about viruses as I am about key-stroke loggers.

I'm going to monitor the payouts for the next 30 days. If I get 3 (or even 2) payouts per month, I'm going to build a Raspberry PI for staking Qtum. One more reason for using a Pi is that since I will be running on solar, I should not have any problems with power outages.

If you wish to reply or comment, please don't quote this entire post, just the paragraphs that you wish to discuss. Thanks for taking the time to read this! The link below is a tutorial about staking on a Raspberry Pi.

This looks like a pretty useful accessory for a Raspberry Pi staking computer. It is a USB multimeter that measures volts, amps, and watts. It is available in USB 2.0 or 3.0 versions, and it is a "pass-thru" device, so you can still use the USB port that it occupies.

"<snip> About airdrop Bodhi as one of the ecologically decentralized quantum chain project, hope BOT can be allocated to all the users of quantum chain as much as possible. Therefore, BOT on-line transactions, the Bodhi Foundation will 4% (4 million) BOT airdrop on the quantum chain.The team will set out to develop an airdrop program. Airdrop program implementation steps are as follows:Airdrop ratio: Every 100 QTUM will get 4 BOT "

I've had issues where the display would not work after turning on the monitor. It was unable to find the signal. I'm not sure if it is the T11, or my monitor. I thought I had the problem fixed using Google Chrome and the US Naval Observatory Clock Webpage (a javascript that updates every second). Unfortunately, that isn't a reliable fix, and I no longer recommend it.

When the display fails to work, I'm not able to determine if the Qtum app is running, or if Windows has shutdown.

I have tried to "force" a signal by disconnecting and reconnecting the HDMI cable without success. If I had some test equipment, I could determine the problem, but that isn't an option. So, for now I will leave the monitor powered-up for evaluation purposes.

I'm waiting to determine the staking reward rate, before I buy a Raspberry Pi. If I can get 2 rewards per month, I'm probably going to build a Raspberry Pi for staking, using household power. If I get 3 per month, I'm going to build a solar rig for the Pi. My 1st stake was received on November 7th. Time will tell.

On the solar side, I talked to a guy named Jeff at Voltaic Systems https://www.voltaicsystems.com/. He listened to my proposal to use solar power with a Raspberry Pi that would be running 24/7. He has quite a bit of experience using Solar rigs with the Pi.

Voltaic has a system that seems ideal for a Pi, but Jeff told it would not work for a 24/7 application. He suggested that I buy a 100 watt panel, a charge controller with a 5 volt output, and a deep cycle 12-volt battery, such as a golf cart or trolling motor battery.

He further stated that a deep cycle battery was usually good for 500 cycles, so I would consider it as a 1.5 year expense.

Anyway, I'm doing the homework to see if this is feasible. I'll know by December 7th if this will be an economic success.

Ouch! as a long term holder I hated to see the above comment. Qtum is going to be making an even bigger move than it did early this morning ( $40 ) and there is also a rumor that it is doing a split in January but haven't seen the article yet.Big things coming and I'm glad this is my biggest holdings other than Tezos

Marchas45 wrote:Ouch! as a long term holder I hated to see the above comment. Qtum is going to be making an even bigger move than it did early this morning ( $40 ) and there is also a rumor that it is doing a split in January but haven't seen the article yet.Big things coming and I'm glad this is my biggest holdings other than Tezos

I love seeing Charlie make money in the crypto space

Whenever someone says crypto is too difficult or confusing, I say if Charlie can do it, what is your excuse?

Silversummit wrote:Qtum is moving due to the bitcoin ultimate airdrop coming up on qtum. For every 100 Qtum you hold you get 1 bitcoin ultimate. Not that it will have much value but people are buying this airdrop imo.

Ugh, I hate airdrops. Almost as bad as "forking BTC and calling ourselves the real BTC"

Silversummit wrote:Qtum is moving due to the bitcoin ultimate airdrop coming up on qtum. For every 100 Qtum you hold you get 1 bitcoin ultimate. Not that it will have much value but people are buying this airdrop imo.

Ugh, I hate airdrops. Almost as bad as "forking BTC and calling ourselves the real BTC"

Yea, it temporarily pumps the price but like you I believe Qtum will be a 3 digit coin 2018.

Marchas45 wrote:Ouch! as a long term holder I hated to see the above comment. Qtum is going to be making an even bigger move than it did early this morning ( $40 ) and there is also a rumor that it is doing a split in January but haven't seen the article yet.Big things coming and I'm glad this is my biggest holdings other than Tezos